Review of Kakkamuttai

Director M. Manikandan’s Kakka muttai is about the two little boys desire for a pizza. The movie is produced by Dhanush and Vetrimaaran with the help of Fox Star Studios. It is a tamil comedy-drama with a major influence on children. The film is award world premiere at the 39^th Toronto International Film Festival. It won two National Film Awards at 2015 ceremony- Best Children Films and Best Child Artist.

                 In the urban outskirts of Chennai there live two brothers with their mother and grandmother. The boys are not educated so they spend their days playing and stealing crows egg to eat. This lead to their nicknames being Chinna Kakka Muttai (Vignesh,12) and Periya Kakka Muttai (Ramesh,12). The movie begins with a plot of land which acts as the playground to the kids in the slum, has being sold off to make a way for fast-food outlet. The director portrays the governments’ welfare to the lower class society by providing television to the children for free. This creates a turning point for the lads, their small world of dreams has expanded to that of the upper class society. The pizza place (playground) is opened by a film star (Simbu) and the enticing visuals of pizza create a burning hunger in the two boys. Strong satire of commercial world is shown with the lads who can’t even afford normal egg are resort to buy and eat the Italian delicacy. The kids determination to earn Rs 300 to buy the pizza draw them to do work through mal practice. The children collect coal that is dropped from the stream engines and sells it to the junk shop. That’s how they collect money for their desire. In the meantime when the boys show their desire for pizza, their grandmother try to cook it for them with the help of dosai. Manikandan tries to reel the strong relationship between the grandmother and the children. But the grandmother fails and the two boys insult her. Now that they have earned enough money, they run to the pizza shop but their outfits had stop them to enter the commercial world of pizza. The movie highlights the discrimination of the two societies which is judged on the bases of their attire. Author also shows the upper class kids’ cries for the unhygienic pani puri on the streets which is restricted to them by their elders. Movie is lead further with the upper class boys giving their modern cloths to the young lads and in return they giving their earnings to have the pani puri. But for their fate the pizza security recognises the slum lads in the modern outfit. So the kids left disappointmently to their slums, not knowing that a bad news awaits them at home. Their grandmother had left them from this world. This scene is taken with the help of a silent tone composition to bring more effect to the movie. Meanwhile the boys’ harassment by the pizza security is recorded by their slum acquaintances in the phone which had been once stolen by them. With this recording, the slum elders start to blackmail the pizza owner to get money. Later the owner offers one of the men a hundred thousand rupees for ceasing it from publicity. The man agrees but his associate, by the time makes it viral through the media. This draw the attention of the political world and the state to the children. Finally the owner had no way out other than to repent to the innocent kids in front of the public and offer them free pizza with a red carpet welcome under police escort. The owner feeds them to impress the public unwillingly. Manikandan shows the power of media in the present world of technology. Author brings a final humour through the children’s dislike to the cold surrounding and the cold pizza. They disgrace the Italian delicacy with the thoughts of their grandmother’s pizza dosai more appetizing.